Who Is Who?

In this essay I will compare two of the religious groups in Judaism, the Sadducees and the Pharisees

. In this I will discuss their position in society, religious beliefs, traditions and practices with

reference to the New Testament and the writings of Josephus.

The Sadducees were a Jewish group of t

he Second Temple period. They were the priestly, aristocratic party in Judaism, whose interests cent

red in the Temple,

And are known on the basis of three sources: the writings of the first century hi

storian Josephus, the New Testament and rabbinical writings. No extant writings can be traced to the

Sadducees themselves. Two main hypotheses predominate regarding the origin and meaning of the word

Sadducee. The first suggests they derived their name from a Hebrew word meaning "just" or "righteous

", thus their name meaning " the just ones". The other proposes they were descendants of Zadok, a hi

gh priest who served during the reigns of David and Solomon and who "became the father of the Jewish

priesthood" . This would give them the right to worship in the Temple and would subsequently give t

hem predominance as Jewish priests. They were centred in Jerusalem, which would be expected if indee

d they were the priests of the Temple. They were the priestly, aristocratic party in Judaism whose i

nterests centred in the Temple.

In contrast the Pharisees were a Jewish religious party whose member

ship was largely lay. Sources on the Pharisees include Josephus, Talmud and much reference in the Ne

w Testament, who, along with the Sadducees are often to refered to as opponents of Jesus. They were

not based in Jerusalem and were perceived to be more liberal than the Sadducees. They were a larger

party despite only numbering 6,000. The roots of the Pharisees lies in lay "scribes" (lawyers), "who

emerged in the postexilic Hellenistic period" Scholarly opinion has usually dated the Sadducees to

the same time as the Pharisees, both emerging after the Maccabean...